The invention involves a knee protection device for a person sitting on a seat arranged inside a motor vehicle, in case of an accident-related deformation of the leg space.
A safety device of this type is known from German published patent application DE-A-43 28 446, for example. In that application there is provided a padded board attached to a guide, which is movable by a drive mechanism, essentially in the direction toward the knees of the vehicle passenger, during a crash impact. In this publication it is proposed that a leaf spring, which is firmly harnessed in the vehicle and connected to the padded board, is pre-tensioned in the rest position and releasable opposite to the driving direction of the vehicle, for use as the drive mechanism.
This design entails several serious disadvantages. For example, there are space problems due to a leaf spring which is to be made with relatively large dimensions in order to generate greater forces. Therefore, the design is certainly applicable for the passenger side in a motor vehicle, but not however for the driver's side, where the steering column and the pedal structure are in the way. Furthermore, the construction space is relatively large and the material costs for the leaf spring are too high for the design to be used in the intermediate range of motor vehicles as well.